Jeep CJ3A PICS ADDED

Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:42 am

My son has recently taken ownership of a 1951 Jeep CJ3A which was purchased new by his great-grandfather. For the past 60 years it has been used essentially as a farm tractor, rarely venturing off the property where it's spent its entire existence. As such, it only has 29,000 original miles...but of course it has many more "motor miles"...enough so that the engine was replaced about 15 years ago. But it is in remarkably good condition. No rust to speak of, and all the metal is straight. It even has its original stainless steel trim rings on all four wheels PLUS the spare. He's embarking on a process to fix it up.

Do you folks have knowledge of any Jeep forums similar to this one? Any words of wisdom? I know there are Jeep folks who frequent this forum.

Well, we all know that all those Cubs will not be restored, but there's plenty of parts there for a "Ralph's Cubs Outlet" store if I want to go that route. And I did say "half way together" on the Jeep, so that can go anywhere. Tie that in with retirement being ever so close, and I might find some time to do a little of something.

On another note, I just sold one of the Jeeps and parted out two others so I am down to having only 5 of them left. Rosie won't let me sell hers so it remains to be seen which one goes next.

Re: Jeep CJ3A

Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:55 am

When i worked for AMC/jeep at the dealership i got stuck working on every old rusty jeep wether it was installing clutches and engines. I loved it.

With your jeep there get two lockrites in the diff's and give it full 4 wheel drive there's nothing like it. Nothing can follow a jeep when the trees get tight going thru and around them.

I love old jeeps more than any tractor, well maybe more. I have a '55 cj5 on a '73 cj5 v8 frame right now as a yard tractor with two locrites and 5:38:1 gears. I welded up a rock dump body for the rear and i have the transfer case pto to drive the hydraulics. Its like a little D9 pushing dirt.

Someday my plans are to get a cj3-B i always liked those.

I also had a 1980 CJ7 w/304 v8 with the bigger granny gear 4spd and i installed a dana 44 with a posi unit with flanged axles in the rear and installed a posi unit in the dana 30 with 4:27:1 gears. It was great with lots of bottom end, great hunting jeep in VT but the larger gas tank and it taking me two tanks of gas to drive from CT to Vt kind of made me sell it,.

I have a '99 tj wrangler i had to order because i wanted all the goodies from the factory like the dana 44 rear option with the 373 gears and the heavy duty automatic tranny i got it all. I got one of the last 4.0l 6 cylinder engines too. the design of the 4.0l block goes back to the 50's / 60's in the ramblers. The unsung hero is the rambler american they were one heck of a car and great on gas for its time too. The little nash ramber was ahead of its time too. But i like the vintage stuff too.

Last edited by BigBill on Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Jeep CJ3A

Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:21 pm

My Dad has CJ-2A that he bought way back in 1974. He he was boy living with his grandfather on the farm my greatgrandfather farmed with one, thus Dad's fascination with the little WIllys. He completely redone it when I was a boy, painted it bright red, soft black rag top and aluminum slotted wheels like came on the 5's back in the day. He bought the wheels new at the local Jeep Dealer.

Dad put in all the Christmas Parades, Veterans Day, Homecoming and so forth. I drove it some in high school while I was fixing up my '52 Ford Pickup. Loved that little Willys!

My younger brother ran it through a fence and wrecked it his senior year of high school. Dad took it off the road to fix it back up, got the idea to update it with some early 70's Ford Bronco running gear and small block Ford HP, lost interest in it about 15 years ago and never finished it. He got it back out a couple years ago, decided to go back with the original drivetrain and engine like it used to be. He's since tinkered with it off and on, while trying to rebuild/restore a '74 Ford 4000 Diesel tractor. I hope Dad gets it done someday...Mom encourages him to do it, but he's had a full plate since retirement. I wish I lived close enough I could work on it more with him. I miss the little Jeep too.

Re: Jeep CJ3A PICS ADDED

Thu Nov 10, 2011 4:57 pm

My son got the Jeep home, reinstalled the windshield, removed the plow frame, and tooled around the neighborhood. As it had no brakes, he decided that issue needed to be addressed first. The master cylinder was hard to access, and was covered with 60 years of grease and dirt. So, he's now removed the body and steam cleaned the chassis and running gear. The frame appears to have original paint on it. I've posted a bunch of pics here http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e79/teebud/Jeep/ The Cadet 108 is one I had until recently.

Re: Jeep CJ3A PICS ADDED

Sun Nov 13, 2011 8:39 pm

Lookin good Jeff. The tail gate looks to be in good shape. Hard to find one around here even in "fair" shape. keep us posted. Grump

Re: Jeep CJ3A PICS ADDED

Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:55 am

If you are still looking for Info on your JEEP, a place to start is CJ-2A.com. That site has lots of links as well as interesting stuff on the older JEEPS. I have a 46 CJ being redone by some Tech School Students, And a 71 CJ5 With V6, Posi-trac, pto winch, and factory hard top.

B.Shaver

Re: Jeep CJ3A PICS ADDED

Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:07 pm

Sorting through some old photos and found one of me in 1968, with my first Jeep, a 1946 CJ2a.